KEY POINTS:
Name suppression has been refused for a 21-year-old woman whose false rape complaint forced part of central Christchurch to be shut down.
Alyshia Shannyn Clyne, a mother of two, was ordered to do 75 hours of community work by Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan, the Christchurch Court News website reported yesterday.
Clyne had pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of making a false complaint to a woman police officer that she had been raped after a night drinking in the city with friends.
She said she had been dragged through Strand Lane into Cathedral Square and raped by an unknown man early on November 6.
But video surveillance footage and a statement from the friend she was with showed the attack could not have happened.
While the complaint was investigated, part of the central city was cordoned off, disrupting businesses and pedestrian traffic. Ten police officers worked on the investigation.
Judge Callaghan said it had not been a minor complaint and had attracted comprehensive police reaction.
Clyne was a first offender but the seriousness of the offence needed an appropriate response and a firm reaction.
He refused final suppression of her name and sentenced her to 75 hours of community work, but gave leave for some of the hours to be converted to training.
- NZPA
